Question

My tongue, every atom of my blood, form’d from this soil, this air, Born here of parents born here from parents the same, and their parents the same, I, now thirty-seven years old in perfect health begin, Hoping to cease not till death. —Walt Whitman Life is real! Life is earnest! And the grave is not its goal; Dust thou art, to dust returnest, Was not spoken of the soul. —Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Which statements accurately describe the structure of each poem? Check the three boxes that best apply. Whitman’s poem has regular rhyme. Longfellow’s poem has regular rhyme. Whitman’s poem has regular meter. Longfellow’s poem has regular meter. Whitman’s poem has mostly regular line lengths. Longfellow’s poem has mostly regular line lengths.

Answer 1

Answer:

The three options which best apply are 2, 4, and 6:

2. Longfellow's poem has regular rhyme.

4. Longfellow's poem has regular meter.

6. Longfellow's poem has mostly regular line lengths.

Explanation:

Walt Whitman (1819-1892) was an American poet who, to this day, is known as the father of free verse. A poem written in free verse, like the one that is quoted in the question, does not respect rhyme schemes. That is, the last words of each line do not sound similar. Free verse also does not worry about meter, that is, the number of syllables in each line. Because of that, the lines can have completely different lengths from one another.

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) was also an American poet whose works still marvel readers to this day. When we read the lines of his poem quoted in the question, we can easily notice how different they are from Whitman's. Longfellow's poem has a clear rhyme scheme ("earnest" rhymes with "returnest", "goal" with "soul"). The lines have similar length, which shows the author most likely used the same or similar numbers of syllables. With that in mind, we can choose options 2, 4, and 6 as the best ones.